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MR. BENTON'S LETTER 



T O 



MAJ. GEN. DAVIS, OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, 



DECLINING 



THE NOMINATION OF THE CONVENTION OF THAT STATE; 



DEFENDING 



THE NOMINATION OF MR. VAN BUREN FOR THE PRESIDENCY; 



AND RECOMMENDING 



HARMONY, CONCERT, AND UNION, 



TO THK 



DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CITY OF WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY BLAIR 8c RIVES. 



183 5. 



Washington City, January 1st, 1835. 
Dear Sir, — We have learned that you have dechned permitting' your name 
to be used, as a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States, and 
that you have addressed a letter to that effect, some time since, to the Commit- 
the of the State Convention of Mississippi, by whom you were nominated for 
that high office. It will be a considerable time before youi* determination, com- 
municated tlirough that channel, can be known to the People of the United 
States; we therefore request the favor of a copy of your letter, if you retained 
one, for publication at this place, in order that your friends elsewhere, as well as 
in Mississippi, may have an early opportunity of turning' their attention to some 
other suitable person. 

Youra, with great respect, 

BOBT. T. LYTLE, (of Ohio,) 
HENRY HUBBARD, (of New Hampshire,) 
RATLIFF BOON, (of Indiana,) 
H. A. MUHLENBERG, (of Pennsylvania.) 
Honorable Thos. H. Benton. 

Washington Citt, January 2d, 1835. 

Gentlemen, — I herewith send you a copy of my'jietter, declining the nominal 
tion of the Mississippi State Convention, for the Vice Presidency of the U. States. 
Fairness towards my political friends in every part of the Union, required me to 
let them know at once what my determination was; and this I have done in many 
private letters, and in all the conversations which I have held on the subject 
The nomination in Mississippi was the first one wluch camt from a State Conven- 
tion, and therefore the first one which seemed to me to jujitify a public letter, 
and to present the question in such a form as would save mv ^rom the ridicule of 
declining what no State had offered. The letter to Mississippi wa' intended for 
publication, to save my friends any further trouble on my account. It was ex- 
pected to reach, in its circuit, my friends in every quarter; and as you suggest 
that it must be a considerable time before it could return from the State of 
Mississippi through the newspapers, and that in the meantime, my friends else- 
where, might wish earlier information, that they might turn their attention to 
some other person, I ciieerfully comply with your request, and furnish the copy 
for publication here. 

Yours, respectfully, 

THOMAS H. BENTON. 
Messrs. R. T. Lttle, H Hcbbahd, 

R. Boon, and H. A. Muhlenberg. 



MR. BENTON'S LETTER. 



Washington City, Dec. 16th, 1834. 

Dear Sir: Your kind letter of the 8th ultimo has been duly 
received, and I take great pleasure in returning you my thanks for 
the friendship you have shewn me, and which I shall be happy to 
acknowledge by acts, rather than words, whenever an opportunity 
shall occur. 

The recommendation for the Vice Presidency of the United 
States, which the Democratic Convention of your State has done me 
the honor to make, is, in the highest degree, flattering and honora- 
ble to me, and commands the expression of my deepest gratitude; 
but, justice to myself, and to our political friends, requires me to say 
at once, and with the candor, and decision, which rejects all dis- 
guise, and palters with no retraction, that I cannot consent to go 
upon the list of candidates for the eminent office for which I have 
been proposed. 

I consider the ensuing election for President, and Vice President, 
as one among the most important that ever took place in our coun- 
try; ranking with that of 1800, when the democratic principle first 
triumphed in the person of Mr. Jefferson, and with the two elections 
of 1828, and 1832, when the same principle again triumphed in the 
person of General Jackson; and I should look upon all the advanta- 
ges recovered for the constitution, and the people, in these two last 
triumphs, as lost, and gone, unless the democracy of the Union shall 
again triumph in the election of 1836. To succeed in that election, 
will require the most perfect harmony, and union, among ourselves. 
To secure this union and harmony, we must have as few aspirants 
for the offices of President, and Vice President, as possible; and, to 
diminish the number of these aspirants, I, for one, shall refuse to go 
upon the list: and will remain in the ranks of the voters, ready to 
support the cause of democracy, by supporting the election of the 
candidates which shall be selected by a General Convention of the 
democratic party. 

But, while respectfully declining, for myself, the highly honorable 
and flattering recommendation of your convention, I take a particu- 



lar pleasure in expressing the gratification which I feel, at seeing the 
nomination which you have made in favor of Mr. Van Buren. I 
have known that gentleman long, and intimately. We entered the 
Senate of the United States together, thirteen years ago, sat six years 
in seats next to each other, were always personally friendly, generally 
acted together on leading subjects, and always interchanged com- 
munications, and reciprocated confidence; and thus, occupying a 
position to give me an opportunity of becoming thoroughly acquainted 
whith his principles, and character, the result of the whole has been, 
that I have long since considered him, and so indicated him to my 
friends, as the most fit, and suitable person to fill the presidental 
chair after the expiration of President Jackson's second term. In 
political principles he is^thoroughly democratic, and comes as near 
the Jeffersonian standard as any statesman now on the stage of pub- 
lic life. In abilities, experience, and business habits, he is beyond 
the reach of cavil, or dispute. Personally he is inattackable; for the 
whole volume of his private life contains not a single act which 
requires explanation, or defence. In constitutional temperament he 
is peculiarly adapted to the station, and the times; for no human 
being could be more free from every taint of envy, malignity, or 
revenge; or, could possess, in a more eminent degree, that happy 
conjunction of firmness of purpose, with suavity of manners, which 
contributes so much to the successful administration of public affairs, 
and is so essential, and becoming, in a high public functionary. 
The State from which he comes, and of which, successive elections 
for two and twenty years prove him to be the favorite son, is also 
to be taken into the account in the list of his recommendations; that 
great State which, in the eventful struggle of 1800, turned the 
scales of the presidential election in favor of Mr. Jefferson, — which 
has supported every democratic administration from that day to this; 
a State which now numbers two millions of inhabitants, — gives forty- 
two votes in the presidential election, — and never saw one of her 
own sons exalted to the presidential office. 

But Mliat has he done? Wliat has Mr. Van Buren done, that he 
should be elected President? This is the inquiry, as flippantly, as 
ignorantly, put by those who would veil, or disparage the merits of 
this gentleman; when it would be much more regular and pertinent 
to ask, what has such a man as this done, that he should not be made 
President? — But, to answer the inquiry as put: It might, perhaps, 



be sufficieut, so far at least as the comparative merits of competitors 
are concerned, to point to his course in the Senate of the United 
States during the eiglit years that he sat in that body; and to his con- 
duct since in the high offices to which he has been called by his 
native State, by President Jackson, and by the American People. 
This might be sufficient between Mr. Van Buren and others; but it 
would not be sufficient for himself. Justice to him would require 
the answer to go further back, — to the war of 1812, — when he was 
a member of the New York Senate; when the fate of Mr. Madi- 
son's administration, and of the Union itself, depended upon the 
conduct of that great State, — great in men and means, — and greater 
in position, a frontier to New England and to Canada, — to British 
arms and Hartford Convention treason; — and when that conduct, 
to the dismay of every patriot bosom, was seen to hang, for nearly 
two years, in the doubtful scales of suspense. The federalists had 
the majority in the House of Representatives; the democracy had the 
Senate and the Governor; and for two successive sessions no measuie 
could be adopted in support of the war. Every aid proposed by 
the Governor and Senate, was rejected by the House of Representa- 
tives. Every State paper issued by one, was answered by the other. 
Continual disagreements took place; innumerable conferences were 
had; the Hall of the House of Representatives was the scene of 
eontestation; and every conference was a public exhibition of par- 
liamentary conflict, — a public trial of intellectual digladiation, — in 
which each side, represented by committees of its ablest men, and 
in the presence of both Houses, and of assembled multitudes, exerted 
itself to the iitmost to justify itself, and to put the other in the wrong, 
to operate upon public opinion, govern the impending elections, and 
acquire the ascendency in the ensuing legislature. Mr. Van Buren, 
then a young man, had just entered the Senate at the commence- 
ment of this extraordinary stiuggle. He entered it, November, 
1812; and had just distinguished himself in the opposition of his 
county to the renewal of the first national Bank charter, — in the sup- 
port of Vice President Clinton for giving the casting vote against it 
— and in his noble support of Governor] Tompkins, for his Roman 
energy in proroguing the General Assembly, (April, 1812,) which 
could not otherwise be prevented from receiving, and embodying, 
the transmigratory soul of that defunct institution, and giving it a 
new existence, in a new place, under an altered name, and modified 



8 

form. He was politically born out of this conflict, and came into 
the legislature against the Bank, and for the war. He was the man 
which ihe occasion required; the ready writer, — prompt debater, — 
judicious counsellor; courteous in manners, — firm in purpose, — in- 
flexible in principles. He contrived the measures, — brought forward 
the bills and reports, — delivered the speeches, — and drew the State 
papers, (especially the powerful address to the republican voters of 
the State,) which, eventually, vanquished the fedei-al party, turned 
the doubtful scales, and gave the elections of April, 1814, to the 
friends and supporters of Madison and the war; an event, the intel- 
ligence of which was received at Washington with an exultation 
only inferior to that with which was received the news of the victory 
of New Orleans. The new Legislature, now democratic in both 
branches, was quickly convened by Governor Tompkins; and Mr. 
Van Burenhad the honor to bring forward, and carry through, amidst 
the applauses of patriots, and the denunciation of the anti-war par- 
ty, the most energetic war measure ever adopted in our America, — 
the classification bill, as he called it, the conscription bill, as they 
called it. By this bill, the provisions of which, by a new and sum- 
mary process, were so contrived as to act upon property, as well as 
upon persons, an army of twelve thousand State troops, were imme- 
diately to be raised; to serve for two years, and to be placed at the 
disposition of the General Government. The peace which was 
signed in the last days of December, 1814, rendered this great mea- 
sure of New York inoperative; but its merit was acknowledged by 
all patriots at the time; the principle of it was adopted by Mr. 
Madison's administration; recommended by the Secretary at War, 
Mr. Monroe, to the Congress of the United States, and found by 
that body too energetic to be passed. To complete his course in 
support of the war, and to crown his meritorious labors to bring it to 
a happy close, it became Mr. Van Buren's fortune to draw up the 
vote of thanks of the greatest State in the Union, to the greatest 
General which the war had produced, — " the thanks of the New York 
legislature to Major General i\cKson, his gallant officers and troops, 
for their ivonderful, and heroic victory, in defence of the grand 
emporium of the TVest.^^ Such was the appropriate conclusion to 
his patriotic services in support of the war: services, to be sure, not 
rivalling in splendor the heroic achievements of victorious arms; but 
services, nevertheless, both honorable, and meritorious, in their 



place; and without which battles cannot be fought, victories cannot 
be won, nor countries be saved. Martial renown, it is true, he did 
not acquire, nor attempt; but the want of that fascination to his name 
can hardly be objected to him, in these days, when the political 
ascendency of military chieftains is so pathetically deplored, and 
when the entire perils of the republic are supposed to be compressed 
into the single danger of a military despotism. 

Such is the answer, in brief, and in part, to the flippant inquiry. 
What has he done? 

The vote ill the Senate, for the tarift* of 1828, has sometimes 
been objected to Mr. Van Buren; but witii how much ignorance of 
the truth, let facts attest. 

He was the first eminent member of Congress, north of the Poto- 
mac, to open the war, at the right point, upon that taritl' of 1828, 
then undergoing the process of incubation through the instrumen- 
tality of a Convention to sit at Harrisburg. His speech at Albany, 
in July, 1827, openly characterized that measure as a political ma- 
noeuvre to influence the impending presidential election; and the 
graphic expression, " a measure proceeding more from the closet 
of the POLITICIAN than from the wokkshov of the manufacturer," 
so opportunely and felicitously used in that speech, soon be- 
came the opinion of the public, and subsequently received the 
impress of verification from the abandonment, and the manner of 
abandoning, of the whole fabric of the high tariff" policy. Failing 
to carry any body into the Presidential chair, its doom pronounced 
by the election of Jackson and Van Buren,* it was abandoned, as it 
had been created, upon a political calculation; and expired under a 
fat emanating, not from the workshop of the manufacturer, but from 
the closet of the politician. — True, that Mr. Van Buren voted for 
the tariff" of 1828, notwithstanding his speech of 1827; but, equally 
true, that he voted under instructions from his State Legislature, 
and in obedience to the great democratic principle {demos, the people, 
krateo, to govern) which has always formed a distinguishing feature, 
and a dividing land-mark^ between the two great political parties 
which, under whatsoever name, have always existed, and still exist, 
in our country. — Sitting in the chair next to him at the time of that 
vote, voting as he did, and upon the same principle; interchanging 
opinions without reserve, or disguise, it comes within the perception of 
my own senses to know, that he felt great repugnance to the provisions 

*Over the hig-li tai-i ft' champions, Clay and Sergeant. 



10 

of that tariff act of '28, and voted for it, as I did, in obedience to a 
principle which we both hold sacred. 

No public man, since the days of Mr. Jefferson, has been pursued 
with more bitterness than Mr. Van Buren; none, not excepting Mr. 
Jefferson himself, has ever had to withstand the combined assaults of 
so many, and such formidable powers. His prominent position, in 
relation to the next Presidency, has drawn upon him the general 
attack of other candidates, — themselves as well as their friends; for, 
in these days, (how different from former times!) candidates for the 
Presidency are seen to take the field for themselves, — banging away 
at their competitors, — sounding the notes of their own applause, — 
and dealing in the tricks, and cant, of veteran cross-road, or ale- 
house, electioneerers. His old opposition, and early declaration 
(1826) against the Bank of the United States, has brought upon him 
the pervading vengeance of that powerful institution; and subjected 
him to the vicarious vituperation of subaltern assailants, inflamed with 
a wrath, not their own, in whatsoever spot that terrific institution 
maintains a branch, or a press, retains an adherent, or holds a debt- 
or. (It was under the stimulus, and predictions of the Bank press, 
that Mr. Van Buren was rejected by the Senate in 1832.) Yet in 
all this combination of powers against him, and in all these unre- 
lenting attacks, there is no specification of misconduct. All is 
vague, general, indefinite, mysterious. Mr. Crawford, the most 
open, direct, and palpable of public men, was run down upon the 
empty cry of "giant at intriguel^^ a. second edition of that cry, now 
stereotyped for harder use, is expected to perform the same service 
upon Mr. Van Buren; while the originators and repeaters of the cry, 
in both instances, have found it equally impossible to specify a case 
of intrigue in the life of one, or the other, of these gentlemen. 

Safety fund banks, is another of those cries raised against him; 
as if there was any thing in the system of those banks to make the 
banking system worse; or, as if the money, and politics of these 
safety fund banks, were at the service of Mr. Van Buren. On the 
contrary, it is not even pretended by his enemies that he owns a 
single dollar of stock in any one of these banks! and I have been 
frequently informed, from sources entitled to my confidence, that 
he does not own a dollar of interest in any bank in the world! 
that he has wholly abstained from becomming the owner of any 
bank stock, or taking an interest in any company, incorporated by 



11 

tlie Legislature, since he first became a member of that body, above 
two -and -twenty, years ago. And as for the politics of the safety 
fund banks, it has been recently, and authentically shown that a 
vast majority of them are under the control of his most determined 
and active political opponents. 

No public man has been more opposed to the extension of the 
banking system than Mr. Van Buren. The journals of the New 
York Legislature show that the many years during which he was a 
prominent member of that body, he exerted himself in a continued 
and zealous opposition to the increase of banks; and, upon his eleva- 
ion to the Chief Magistracy of the State, finding the system of banks 
so incorporated with the business and interests of the People, as to 
render its abolishment impossible, he turned his attention to its im- 
provement, and to the establishment of such guards against fraudu- 
lent, or even unfortunate bankruptcy, as would, under all circum- 
stances, protect the holders of notes against loss. The safety fund 
system was the result of views of this kind; and if its complete suc- 
cess hitherto (for no bank lias failed under it,) and the continued sup- 
port and confidence of the representatives of two millions of people, 
are not sufficient to attest its efficacy, there is one consideration at 
least, which should operate so far in its favor as to save it from the 
sneers of those who cannot tell what the safety fund system is; and 
that is, the perfect ease and composure witlv which the whole of these 
banks rode out the storm of Senatorial and United States Bank as- 
sault, panic, and pressure, upon them last winter I This consideration 
should save Mr. Van Buren from the censure of some people, if it 
cannot attract their applause. For the rest, he is a real hard money 
man; opposed to the paper system — in favor of a national currency 
of gold — in favor of an adequate silver currency for common use — 
against the small note currency — and in favor of confining bank 
notes to their appropriate sphere and original function, that of large 
notes for large transactions, and mercantile operations. 

Non-committal, is another of the flippant phrases, got by rote, and 
parroted against Mr. Van Buren. He never commits himself, say 
these veracious observers! he never shows his hand, till he sees 
which way the game is going! Is this true? Is there any foundation 
for it? On the contrary, is it not contradicted by public and noto- 
rious facts? by the uniform tenor of his entire public life for near a 
quarter of a century? To repeat nothing of what has been said ot 



12 

his opposition to the first Bank, of the United States, his support of 
Vice President Clinton for giving the casting vote against the re- 
charter of that institution, his support of Governor Tompkins, in the 
exti-aordinary measure of proroguing the New York Legislature, to 
prevent the metempsychosis of the Bank, and its revivification, in 
the City of New York; to repeat nothing of all this, and of his 
undaunted and brilliant support of the war, from its beginning to its 
end, I shall refer only to what has happened in my own time, and 
under my own eyes. His firm, and devoted, support of Mr. Craw- 
ford, in the contest of 1824, when that eminent citizen, prostrate 
with disease, and inhumanly assailed, seemed to be doomed to inev- 
itable defeat; was that non-committal? His early espousal of Gene- 
ral Jackson-s cause, after the election in the House of Representa- 
tives, in February, 1825, and his steadfast opposition to Mr. Adams's 
administration; was that non-committal? His prominent stand 
against the Panama Mission, when that mission was believed to be 
irresistibly popular, and was pressed upon the Senate to crush the 
opposition members; was that also a wily piece, of non-committal 
policy? His declaration against the Bank of the United States in 
the year 1826; was that the conduct of a man waiting to see the 
issue before he could take his side? The removal of the deposites, 
and the panic scene of last winter, in which so many gave way, and 
so many others folded their arms until the struggle was over, while 
Mr. Van Buren, both by his own conduct, and that of his friends, 
gave an undaunted support to that masterly stroke of the President; 
is this also to be called a non-committal line of conduct, and the 
evidence of a temper that sees the issue before it decides? The fact 
is, this ridiculous and nonsensical charge, is so unfounded and absurd, 
so easily refuted, and not only refuted, but turned to the honor and 
advantage of Mr. Van Buren, that his friends might have rsn the risk 
of being suspected of having invented it themselves, and put it into 
circulation, just to give some others of his friends a biilliant opportuni- 
ty of emblazoning his merits! were it not that the blind enmity of 
his competitors has put the accusation upon record, and enabled his 
friends to exculpate themselves, and to prove home the original charge 
against his undisputed opponents. 

For one thing Mr. Van Buren has reason to be thankful to his 
enemies; it is, for having began the war upon him so soon! There is 
time enough yet for truth and justice to do their ofiice, and to dispel 



13 

every cloud of prejudice which the jealousy of rivals, the vengeance 
of the Bank, and the ignorance of dupes, has hung over his name. 

Union, harmony, self-denial, concession, — every thing for the 
cause, nothing for men, — should be the watchword, and motto of the 
democratic party. 

Disconnected from the election, — a voter, and not a candidate, — 
having no object in view but to preserve the union of the democratic 
party, and to prevent the administration of the public affairs from 
relapsing into hands that would undo every thing; hands that would 
destroy every limit to the constitution, by latitudinous constructions, 
— which would replunge the country into debt, and taxes, by the 
reckless, wilful, systematic, ungovernable, headlong, stubborn, 
support of every wasteful and extravagant expenditure, — tliat would 
re-deliver the country into the hands of an institution which has 
proved the scourge of the people — and which would instantly revive 
the .dominion of paper'money, by arresting the progress of the gold 
and silver currency: having no object in view but to prevent these 
calamities, I may be permitted to say a word, without incurring the 
imputation of speaking from interested motives, on the vital point of 
union in the democratic par^. 

The obligation upcL good men to unite, when bad men combine, 
is as clear in politics as it is in morals. Fidelity to this obligation 
has, heretofore, saved the republic, and was never more indispensa- 
ble to its safety than at the present moment. The efforts made 
under the elder Adams, above thirty years ago, to subvert the prin- 
ciples of our Government, produced a union of the productive, and 
burthen-hearing classes, in every quarter of the republic. Planters, 
farmers, laborers, mechanics, (with a slight infusion from the com- 
mercial arid professional interests,) whether on this side or that of 
the Potomac, whether East or West of the Alleghany mountains, 
stood together upon the principle of common right, and the sense of 
common danger, and effected that first great union of the demo- 
cratic party which achieved the civil revolution of 1 800, arrested the 
downward course of the Government, and turned back the national 
administration to its republican principles, and economical habits. 

The sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson well discerned, in the 
homogeneous elements of which this united party was composed, the 
appropriate materials for a republican Government; and to the per- 
manent conjunction of these elements, he constantly looked for the 



14 

only insurmountable barrier to the approaches of oligarchy and 
aristocracy. Actuated by a zeal which has never been excelled, 
for the success and perpetuity of the Democratic cause, he labored 
assiduously in his high office, and subsequent retirement, in his con- 
versations, and letters, to cement, sustain, and perpetuate a party, 
on the union and indivisibility of which he solely relied for the 
preservation of our republic. It was the political power, resulting 
from this auspicious union, (to say nothing of several other occasions,) 
which carried us safely and triumphantly through the late war; 
enabling the Government to withstand, on one hand, the paralyzing 
machinations of a disaffected aristocracy, and to repel on the other, 
the hostile attacks of a great nation. 

The first relaxation of the ties which bound together the Democ- 
racy of the North and South, East and West, was followed by the 
restoration to power of federal men, and the re-appearance in the 
administration of federal doctrhies, and federal measures. The 
younger Mr. Adams cpept into power through the first breach that 
was made in the Democratic ranks; and immediately proclaimed the 
fundamental principles which lie at the bottom of ancient federalism, 
and modern whiggism,— " the representative not to he palsied by the 
will of his constituents'^^— ^^ constitutional scruples to he solved in 
practical hlessings;^^ — two doctrines, one of which would leave the 
people without representatives, and the other would leave the 
Government without a constitution. The ultra federalism of this 
gentleman's administration, fortunately for the country, led to the 
re-union of those homogeneous elements, by the first union of which 
the elder Mr. Adams had been ejected from power; and this re- 
union immediately produced a second civil revolution not less vital 
to the republic than the first one, of 1800: a revolution to which we 
are indebted for the election of a President who has turned back 
the Government, so far as in his power lies, to tl\e principles of the 
constitution, and to the practice of economy, — who has directed the 
action of the Government to patriotic objects, — saved the people 
from the cruel dominion of a heartless moneyed power; — withstood 
the combined assaults of the Bank, and its allied Statesmen, — and 
frustrated a conspiracy against the liberty, and the property, of the 
people, but little less atrocious in its design, and little less disastrous 
in its intended effects, than that conspiracy from which Cicero deliver- 
ed the Roman people, and for the frustration of which he was hailed by 



15 

Cato, in the assembled presence of all Rome, with the glorious 
appellation of Pater Patrise — Father of his Country. 

The democracy of the four quarters of the Union, now united, 
victorious, happy, and secure, un<ier the administration of President 
Jackson; shall it disband, and fall to pieces the instant that great 
man retires? This is what federalism hopes, foretels, promotes, 
intrigues, prays, and pants for. Shall this be — and through whose 
fault? Shall sectional prejudices, lust of power, contention for 
office, (that bane of freedom;) shall personal preferences, so amiable 
in private life, so weak in politics; shall these small causes — these 
Lilliputian tactics — be suffered to work the disruption of the 
democratic union? to separate the republican of the South and West, 
from his brother of the North and East? and, in that separation, to 
make a new opening for the second restoration of federalism (under 
its alius diCtus of whiggism,) and the permanent enslavement of the 
producing, and burthen-bearing classes of the community? 

Bear with me if I speak without disguise, and say, if these things 
happen, it must be through the fault of the South and West. 

Here are the facts : 

It has so happened that, although every Southern President (four 
in number) and the only Western one (through his two terms) has 
received the warm support of Northern Democracy, yet no Nor- 
thern President has ever yet received the support of the South and 
West. Hitherto this peculiar, and one-sided result, has left no sting 
— created no heart burnings — in the bosom of Northern Democracy, 
because it was the result, not of sectional bigotry, but of facts, and 
principles. The administrations of the two Northern Presidents 
were alike offensive to republicans of all quarters, and were put 
down by the joint voices of a united Democracy 

But suppose this state of things now to be changed, and a Democratic 
candidate to be presented from the North; ought that candidate to be 
opposed by the Democracy of the South and West? Suppose that 
candidate to be one coming as near to the JefFersonian standard (to say 
more might seem invidious; to say that much is enough for the argu- 
ment,) suppose such a candidate to be presented; ought the Demo- 
cracy of the South and West, to reject him? Could they do it, 
without showing a disposition to monopolize the Presidential office? 
and to go on for an indefinite succession, after having already pos- 
sessed the office for forty years, out of forty-eight? What would be 



16 

the effect of such a stand, taken by the South and West, on the har 
mony of the Democratic party? Certainly to destroy it! What 
would be its effect on the harmony of the States? Certainly to 
array them against each other! What would be its effect on tlie 
formation of parties? Certainly to change it from the ground of 
principle, to the ground of territory! to substitute a geographical 
basis, for the political basis, on which parties now rest! Could these 
things be desirable to any friend of popular government; to any con- 
siderate, and reflecting man in the South, or West? On the contra- 
ry, should not the Democracy of the South and West, rejoice at an 
opportunity to show themselves superior to sectional bigotry, devoted 
to principle, intent upon the general harmony, inaccessible to 
intrigue, or to weakness; and ready to support the cause of demo- 
cracy, whether the representative of the cause comes from this, or 
that side, of a river, or a mountain? — A Southern and a Western man 
myself, this is the state of my own feelings, and I rejoice to see that 
your convention has acted upon them. And if, what I have here 
written (and which I could not hav« written if I had accepted the 
most honorable and gratifying nomination of your convention) if this 
letter, too long for the occasion, but too short for my feelings! if it 
shall contribute to prevent the disruption of the republican party, 
and the consequent loss of all the advantages recovered for the 
constitution and the People, under the administration of President 
Jackson, then shall I feel the consolation of having done a better 
service to the Republic by refusing to take, than I can ever do, by 
taking, office. 

Hoping then, my dear sir, that the nomination of your Conven- 
tion may have its full effect in favor of Mr. Van Buren, and that it 
may be entirely forgotten, so far as it regards myself, except in the 
grateful recollections of my own bosom, 

I remain, most truly and sincerely yours, 

THOMAS H. BENTON. 

Major General Davis, 

Manchester, Mississippi. 



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